by Tammy Dodderidge
He’s only a sophomore, but Ronal Burrell already has high aspirations for his career, and he has taken some major steps toward achieving them.
The Wyandotte High School student recently won first place in the Youth Entrepreneurs’ Regional Flyers 2016 Business Plan Competition. His reward was $1,000 to invest in his business plan idea.
Nearly two years ago, Burrell formed the startup, Zillah Paint Co., a custom shoe, shoe repair and specialty rubber shoe paint business. He customizes existing athletic shoes with paint designs, and has invented a special polish for rubber soles that he says is different from any other because it doesn’t crack.
Through his Youth Entrepreneurs class at Wyandotte this year, he developed a business plan and set some goals for himself. Typically, this class is only for juniors and above, but because Burrell already had a startup in place, his counselor got him admitted during his sophomore year.
So what exactly will he do with his $1,000 scholarship? He’s planning to invest in some radio ads to begin promoting his business and grow his customer base.
“I have a patent pending and I’m planning to make a big push this summer to let people know about my business,” he said.
He hopes to use the money he makes through his business to pay his way through college. He’s taking college classes now and his goal is to graduate from high school with two years of college completed. He then would like to work toward a duel degree in business and psychology.
His ultimate goal is to work for Nike. In the meantime, he is gearing up for the next round of the YE Business Plan Competition, on June 2 in Wichita. There, he will compete with seven other regional winners for a chance to go to the nationals.
His shoes are laced, and he’s ready to go.
Tammy Dodderidge is the communications manager for the Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools.